TED BINION

Courtroom footage is available for this story for license and/or purchase from the IN SESSION archives – click here.

Sandy's Golden Goose

It wasn't long before Sandy found out who Ted Binion was and realized that she had nearly thrown away a ready-made jackpot, a kind of "golden goose," if you will. She soon learned that Binion was worth an estimated $50 million. Despite their age difference, there was no longer any doubt that he was her kind of guy. When Ted showed up at Cheetah's again a couple of nights later he specifically requested her company. Sandy quickly made up for the impudence she had shown him on their first meeting and happily accepted a date with him for a night on the town.

On another evening she accepted an invitation to a dinner party at Ted's house. He had invited Sandy and one of her friends to the party, all the while having brought another date for himself who was already there when Sandy and her friend arrived. Embarrassed, Sandy blew up and made a scene. She told Binion that she thought that she had been his date for the evening, and taunted him that it was going to be her or no one.

Ted and Sandy soon made up, and it wasn't long before the two were being seen together all over town. Even though Sandy realized that Ted was a wealthy man, she still had no idea what he did for a living and knew nothing of his background or his family. At first she always referred to him as "Bunion," and it eventually began to irritate Ted.

On another of their earliest dates, Ted, tired of Sandy always referring to him as "Bunion," took Sandy downtown to the Fremont Street Experience. They stopped in front of the Horseshoe.

"You always call me Bunion," Ted said as he pointed towards the Horseshoe and the sign that read Binion's Horseshoe. "It's Binion, and I own that casino."

"Ted, you don't have to do that," Sandy replied.

The Horseshoe Casino (Gary C. King)

Ted was insistent that he owned at least a major share in the casino, however, and he walked Sandy over to the entrance to the Horseshoe and called a security guard to the door. He instructed the security guard to tell his companion who he was and that he was one of the owners of the casino.

"I'm sorry, sir," replied the security guard. "But I've never seen you before." The guard was new, and he was telling the truth. He hadn't seen Ted Binion before, and with Ted's problems with the gaming commission, which stipulated that he could not enter the casino or be active with the day-to-day management of the establishment, there was no way that the guard could have known him.

As Ted walked away from the Horseshoe with Sandy it was obvious that he was disappointed. He had failed, again, to impress the young woman to which he had taken such a fancy.